Bernie Monegain
The final rule for meaningful use is here, and now begins the transformation. Now begins the hard work for hospitals and physician practices that have to make sure their technology means something. No one we’ve spoken with in the healthcare field has ever suggested they wanted to use technology for technology’s sake – just to put what they have on paper in electronic form.
To make sure patients are safe, hospitals have to put their CPOE systems to the test, warns healthcare industry watchdog The Leapfrog Group in a report released last month. Leapfrog, one of the strongest advocates in healthcare for the use of CPOE – computerized provider order entry, called on the federal government to make testing mandatory.
Hospital CIOs across the country reviewed the final rule on meaningful use of health IT with some relief that the government had given up its all-or-nothing approach.
The Santa Cruz Health Information Exchange (HIE) is working on its user authentication and identity proofing to ensure patient privacy.
Rural hospitals across the country will benefit from a new $400 million-per-year program, developed by the Federal Communications Commission, to provide affordable broadband in medically underserved communities.
A new bipartisan bill aims to ensure that multi-campus hospitals that employ and show meaningful use of health IT systems receive incentive payments that reflect the higher costs of implementation.
The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a two-year $6 million contract to Arlington, Va.-based Stanley, Inc. to provide operation and infrastructure support for the Nationwide Health Information Network.
CDPH, a New York insurance plan, will invest $1 million in 21 area primary care and pediatric practices to participate in the second phase of the plan's IT-based medical home initiative.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is partnering with IBM to market UPMC's "smart" hospital rooms nationwide. Created by UPMC three years ago to bring the right patient information to the bedside when it's needed, UPMC has made the room even smarter, UPMC executives say.
Barry Chaiken, MD, has long been a staunch champion for health IT, but technology is not enough, he says. Chaiken, chief medical officer of DocsNetwork Ltd., and outgoing HIMSS chairman, issued a call to action Tuesday at iHT2 Summer Health IT Summit in Denver.